Parents hid son's scholarship letters for years, sparking outrage
“You aren’t that smart anyway.”
Happy Monday!
Here are the latest trending internet culture stories today:
Parents withheld college acceptance letters from their son, sparking a larger online discussion. Meanwhile, a tourist in Hawaii got a little too close to the local sea turtles, and social media is directing its ire at the Trump administration after coffee prices increased significantly.
We’ll see you in the next one,
— W.J.
⚡️ Today in Internet Culture
“I’d struggle to EVER forgive them”: Boomer backlash erupts after man learns his parents hid Ivy League offers…because they didn’t want to drive that far
An X user shared a photograph of the college recruitment letters her husband had received during high school—or rather, that he should have received. However, he never received them because the school's athletics director, who had received them, gave them directly to his parents.
His parents didn’t tell him about them until he was 24. Their reasoning, she said, was “because ‘we didn’t want to have to travel far to home meets, and you aren’t that smart anyway.’”
"All the narcissists saying she did nothing wrong": Tourist walks through sea turtle habitat for selfies, despite being yelled at
A woman in Hawaii drew sharp criticism after jumping a barrier to pose for photos dangerously close to endangered sea turtles. The footage shows her smiling and laughing while moving between the animals, sometimes within a foot of them, to take photos.
Although onlookers shouted at her to back away, she appeared unfazed. According to NOAA guidelines, individuals should stay at least 50 yards, or about half a football field, away from sea turtles resting on the beach. In Hawaii, this guideline is ten feet.
Folgers went from $12.99 to $19.72 in a month: Your coffee just got more expensive, and people are blaming Trump
Coffee prices across the U.S. have surged nearly 20% since late 2024, and many Americans are blaming one thing: tariffs. After former President Donald Trump announced a new 50% tariff on Brazilian imports—Brazil being one of the world’s biggest coffee exporters—online outrage has brewed over rising grocery bills and viral price comparisons.
🕸️ Crawling the Web
💻 A mother of a three-year-old managed to brew a perfect storm of hate after promoting how she uses ChatGPT as a co-parent online.
👉 Jesse Eisenberg came out and said that he won’t play Mark Zuckerberg in the Social Network sequel, but Jeremy Strong and others are potentially on the list.
🏥 A doctor went on a viral rant about the SKIMS facial wrap, saying it effectively does the exact opposite of what Kim Kardashian’s company is suggesting.
🦸 David Corenswet—aka Superman— is giving a lot of interviews lately, and we rounded up nine times his nerdy side slipped out. It’s almost always something about Star Wars…
💌 Women on Reddit are sharing often-overlooked romantic gestures that quietly transformed their relationships.
🎧 It’s the end of an era for Bobbi Althoff, as the online personality announced that her podcast, The Really Good Podcast, is over.
🍌 For the Donkey Kong Banaza players, we’ve rounded up the best memes about the game.
🔥 Hot on the Dot
This was the most-read story on the Daily Dot yesterday:
Bad parents